1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a printing apparatus that includes a post-process unit that functions after a printing process.
2. Related Art
In many serial type ink jet printers, a movement region of a carriage that carries thereon an ink jet head and that moves back and forth is covered by a cover. JP-A-2007-105927 describes a recording apparatus (printing apparatus) that includes such a cover, a window formed in the cover, and a light-emitting element that illuminates a recorded (printed) area. This recording apparatus allows a printed area being subjected to a recording operation to be visually observed, so that how printing is being performed can be easily visually inspected.
JP-A-2015-178261 describes an ink jet printer that includes a heater device covered by a cover and that heats a recording medium (printing medium) and ink so that the ink is fixed to the recording medium.
In a printing apparatus that includes a post-process unit, such as a heater device, that functions after a printing process, it sometimes happens that the printing medium changes in shape so as to be likely to be jammed or that the state of print, such as the color thereof, changes, depending on the content of the post-process or the configuration of the post-process unit. While the recording apparatus described in JP-A-2007-105927 allows the state of print after printing to be visually inspected, a recording apparatus provided with a post-process unit, such as a covered heater device as described in JP-A-2015-178261, has a problem that it is sometimes the case that the post-process unit blocks the view of the printing medium so that the state of the printing medium during the post-process cannot be visually inspected or is hard to visually inspect. As a result, for example, in the case where the post-process is performed in an inappropriate manner or where the printing medium is damaged due to jamming or the like, such a problem is not promptly coped with but a large quantity of expensive printing media is wasted or the printing efficiency decreases.